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A mooring 1st, diving 2nd, and fishing anywhere else





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Posted by Dave Gaines on November 11, 2009 at 23:14:49:

In Reply to: Farnsworth update - still open for business posted by Ken Kurtis on November 10, 2009 at 22:40:43:

The two dive sites on Farnsworth Bank need two things to protect the purple hydrocoral. They need a no-anchor rule and a no-take game rule. And the first protection is much more critical than the second one. But we want to dive these two shallow pinnacles safely without damaging the coral so forward thinking, conservation-minded divers want a mooring. And we know the only way to have a mooring and still be able to tie off and dive the pinnacles is if game taking is not allowed on these two pinnacles. The rest of Farnsworth Bank, dozens of deeper pinnacles and acres of ocean floor, could be open to fishing and we’d still be able to dive the two shallowest pinnacles.
I’m just a Structural Project Engineer but I know enough about marine forces to know this mooring can be built. It does not have to be designed for the weight or displacement of the ship. Because the boat swings the mooring only needs to be designed for the wind and currents that can push on the bow of that big boat. Even the biggest dive boats can be tied to the dock with just two lines - to a cleat that’s bolted in wood. And every boat is anchored through a single rope that has a breaking strength that’s far less than the weight of the ship it holds.
It’s an engineering problem that has a solution. What this mooring needs is a motivated design team to solve it. We need a new study. If your doctor says what you’ve got is fatal but you feel like living longer, go get another opinion.
The mooring can be be built. It can be built with more than just one dead weight. The mooring can be a precast concrete arch or tripod. All the other objections to a mooring at this site are just political and bureaucratic issues in search of a regulated solution. If we can have a tanker mooring or an oil rig in the middle of shipping lanes, we can have a mooring on the backside of Catalina Island.



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